Like cat and mouse
by ScarryKid
Summary: The story takes place after the fight with Tsubaki. Mahiru and Kuro met a mouse which was chased by cats. After Mahiru and Kuro helped it, they discovered, that it wasn't just a mouse...


Hello, this is my first story, i write in English. It's only a translation from my story and I have to thank "Moonwolflove" for her support and the correction of this chapter. I hope you enjoy^^

 **Chapter 1: Mouse hunt**

"Why did you have to take me with you?" I would've rather stayed at home."

Mahiru shook his head at the complaints of his Servamp. They were on their way back home from school and Kuro had just reached a whole new level of boredom. The whole Tsubaki-incident had taken place only a week ago, but everyone seemed to have gone back to their perfectly normal peaceful lives. Well…as peaceful as a life with vampires could possibly get.

"It's not that far anymore, Kuro," Mahiru said in an attempt to calm the black cat on his shoulder. The student turned around when he heard a loud "Meow", coming from a point somewhere behind him. The noise sounded like a bunch of cats, meowing at the same time.

"Waah," he let out a squeal of surprise when a little black thing ran in between his legs, almost causing him to fall down. The eve managed to keep his balance just in time, but fate decided that it didn't like his flexibility and the boy was ran over by a dozen of cats only seconds later.

He sat up and looked at the bunch of cats, chasing after the black thing, which he now realized – had to have been a mouse or some other rodent-like creature. The poor thing.

"Kuro, go help that mouse!"

Kuro wasn't too enthusiastic about that idea, but complied with the order nonetheless. He jumped down Mahiru's shoulder and set off in pursuit of the mouse, mumbling a soft "so troublesome" as he tried to catch up with the tiny creature before the other cats did.

The mouse had run into a small alley and breathed a sigh of relief. Being under the impression that she had finally managed to get rid of those deadly creatures, she turned around…only to be met with a pair of deep red eyes. She jumped back and let out a squeal of pure anguish. The eyes belonged to a black cat, standing in front of her and staring at her with a look that was hard to describe. He wore a red collar and had a somewhat lazy air about him.

Kuro stared at the mouse, who looked positively frightened. He noticed that she had red eyes, the same deep red colour as his own eyes. The thing that got his attention, though, was the metal collar around her neck. A bad feeling engulfed the servamp and he would have left her be, were it not for the fact that Mahiru had given him an order. He couldn't possibly ignore an order.

By now, the other cats had arrived, forming a wall of meowing menace behind him. The mouse began to shake uncontrollably and backed away, up until the point where the wall prevented her from going any further.

The cats slowly moved forward in an attempt to get closer to her. Kuro observed the situation with little to no interest, yawning slightly. Only when the first cat jumped to attack, did he react. He meowed a single time and moved to stand in between the mouse and the cats, forcing the latter to stop their attack. The scary expression on his face was enough to scare them away. They ran off, almost tripping over each other as they did.

With a yawn, Kuro turned around to face the mouse. The small animal sent him a look of distrust as she tried to press herself even further into the wall. To no avail.

Without warning, Kuro moved forward and bit down on her tail, lifting her up and taking her with him. The animal struggled to get away and tried to bite him, but without success. The only response she got from Kuro was him biting down even more…just enough to hurt her a bit. She immediately stopped her movements and went silent.

The mouse expected him to take her to some lonely spot, in order to devour her in silence. Instead, he took her to a human, who was right in the middle of getting up from the ground. Kuro jumped on his shoulder, without letting go of the mouse.

"Kuro, what are you doing? You're hurting her!"

Annoyed, Kuro let go of the tiny creature. The mouse would have hit the ground in a rather painful way if Mahiru had not caught her. He gently hold her in the palm of his hand, but the mouse wasn't too happy with that. She was scared of the human teenager.

Mahiru studied her for a moment and then grabbed something out of his backpack. It was a piece of paper, which he held next to the mouse; his eyes glancing back and forth between her and the paper. "Aah, you're missing! Let's bring you back home!" He stuffed the paper into his pocket and tightened his grip on the small animal, roughly interrupting her newest escape plan.

They had soon arrived at their destination: a normal little house on the outskirts of the city, with a pretty large garden, which made the neighbouring houses seem rather far away. Mahiru checked the address a last time before ringing the bell. The front gate opened almost immediately and it was only then that the teenager realized that the mouse was shaking with fear. For a moment he wondered as to why that was, but then he ascribed it to the possibility of the owner having a cat.

Kuro pretended to be asleep, but secretly kept an eye on the mouse. He noticed her escape-attempts and felt that there was a good reason as to why she seemed so eager to get away. His instinct told him not to get involved in whatever it was they were getting themselves into.

"I can't face this…can't we just leave it here and go home?"

"No, Kuro. Now that we are here, we might as well personally bring it to its owner. I'm sure he misses his pet."

Kuro closed his eyes and muttered something along the line of "I don't care" when the door in front of them opened. Mahiru entered and glanced around the hallway. There was nothing special about the place. A small cabinet stood against the wall, as well as a pair of shoes next to the front door.

Mahiru took off his shoes and walked through the hallway. He occasionally tried to open a door, but without success. They were all firmly locked.

"Hello? Is anybody home?"

The moment he had assured himself that there was nobody to answer that question, the door to his right opened in a swift movement. He jumped back a bit and looked at the man who had opened the door. He was about 24 years old, with dark brown hair and eyes that were almost black. He wore a messy suit, without the jacket, and an untucked shirt that was half open. His tie loosely hung around his neck.

"What do you want?" His voice was rough and made Mahiru feel uncomfortable.

The man scrutinized the boy and the cat on his shoulder.

"Eh…" Feeling a bit overtaxed with the way the man talked to him, Mahiru scratched the back of his head. The man's gaze drifted from the teenager's face to his hand and he immediately recognized his little pet.

A dark grin appeared on his lips, not the kind of grin you would expect from a loving owner.

"Oh, I see you've found her. Come here, Mini!"

Wait, the mouse was called Mini? Mahiru was a bit confused, but opened his hand anyway. The mouse immediately jumped down and slowly walked towards her owner. Kuro observed her with a somewhat skeptical look in his eyes. Something was off about this. Just a minute ago he had witnessed some of the creature's very desperate escape attempts and now she obeyed her owners every word? Kuro's bad feeling got worse with the second.

They shouldn't have come here.

The little mouse was now standing in front of her owner. "Who do you think you are? Running away just like that!" He took a step forward and put his foot down…right onto the poor animal. The mouse squeaked with pain; the noise turned into a heart-breaking whimpering only seconds later.

Mahiru was shocked. He couldn't believe his eyes. All kinds of thoughts sped through his mind and suddenly, he realized that the man had been the reason behind the desperate struggles of the mouse. The teenager had brought her back to a cruel person! Jeez, what had he done?

Kuro's posture immediately changed. He was wide awake and ready to step in.

"Stop that! It's not unusual that pets run away!" Mahiru yelled.

The man looked up in surprise.

"A pet? You think this is a pet?" He laughed. "She's more than that. She's my slave!"

The pair couldn't have possibly been more confused. Mahiru's imagination showed him a picture of the mouse, doing chores. He shook his head to get rid of the ridiculous scene.

The man laughed at him, his foot still on the mouse. The animal had gone silent. "Now…about you two…" His laugh was replaced by a menacing look in their direction. "Mini…kill them."

The pair looked even more confused than before. He removed his foot and with a 'poof', a petite girl with pitch-black hair and blood-red eyes appeared. She wore a black and red mini-dress, black knee-length socks and black boots with red laces. Around her neck hung a heavy looking metal ring. Her eyes darted from Mahiru to Kuro and back again.

"Yes, master."

The man took something out of his pocket, pulled the girl back by her hair and forcefully put something into her mouth. A red capsule, by the sight of it. The girl was forced to bite down onto it and the moment she did, a black chain formed between her and the man.

Kuro was shocked.

She was a servamp.

She was a servamp and he did not know of her existence…how was that possible?

Could it be…could she be like Tsubaki?

No. Tsubaki had been the last servamp to be created.

But then…who was she?

"Kuro!" He was forced back into reality. He took a moment to regain his senses and then bit into Mahiru's outstretched arm. Between them, a blue chain formed.

The man looked…surprised…to say at least. He shot the girl a hateful glance, which made her shrink in fear. She too was shocked. So…there was someone like her? Her feelings were torn between joy, sorrow, and pure agony.

"You never told me there were others like you!"

The volume of her Eve's voice startled her even more. "I…I had no idea…" Her own voice was insecure and full of fear.

"Obey my order and kill them!" He hit her, which caused her to stumble towards Mahiru and Kuro. She pulled herself together and swiftly moved around them, appearing right behind the latter. The servamp felt how two arms wrapped around him and pulled him into an infinite darkness. His eyes searched the dark, looking for some kind of reference point…something he knew. But without success. Then, suddenly, he heard something. A drop falling to the ground. He turned into the direction of the noise and caught sight of a dark figure, weeping red tears that fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry," the voice of the girl was fragile and low.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He moved a hand and felt something long protrude from his body. The end of a spear…a quick glance downwards told him. His eyes glanced upwards, to the shaky hands that held the weapon and then to the face of the girl, tears of blood running down her cheeks.

Before he could do something, she turned the spear and pulled it out of his stomach, just to plunge it into his throat immediately after. Her red tears melted together with the black dots that appeared before his eyes. He felt how one of the tears fell onto his cheek and ran down his neck…only seconds before he lost consciousness.

Kuro vanished…as did the girl.

"Kuro!"

The man grinned and said: "He cannot hear you. Now…let's finish this." He dashed forward and swung a pitch-black knife at the teenager. Mahiru reacted quickly and managed to avoid the deadly weapon. He conjured his broom and parried the attack that followed, swinging his weapon at his opponent. He missed.

"A broom? What are you going to do with that? Sweep me away?"

The man let out a booming laugh and prepared himself for another attack. He felt overly confident in fighting a brat with a broom.

Still, Mahiru courageously stood up against the man. He fended off the attacks and waited for Kuro to give a sign that he was alright. It didn't take long before the servamp showed up…he was lying on the floor…unconscious and with the girl bending over him; a sad expression on her face. The expression, however, disappeared like snow before the sun and Mahiru wasn't sure whether he had really seen it or not. Could he have imagined it?

He ran to his friend and crouched down next to him.

"Kuro, what happened?"

The girl stood up and moved out of the way, so that he could look at Kuro. The servamp did not have any visible wounds, but it looked as if he was tormented inside.

"Kuro, wake up!" his attempts to wake up Sloth failed miserably. He was so busy worrying about Kuro that he had totally forgotten about the fight. As he turned around, he felt a prick in his neck, rendering him unconscious only seconds later.


End file.
